LB 3051 
.M46 
Copy 1 



HAPERS on school issues of the day. XI. 



EXAMINATIONS' 



AS 



! "\. 



TESTS MPROMOTIOiN. 



\ 



BY- 



^^H 



BrnoTchju. \. V. 

A Pai'Eh read liKFouK THE National Educational Associa- 
tion", AT St, Paul, ^Iinn., Jiily, isoo. 




sv i;a<: I .>!::. N. \ . : 
C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER. 

18.111. 



-THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.- 



The Five Great English Books. 

The recognition of Teaching as a Science ■was much earlier in England 
than in this country, and tlie five books which are there recoj;nized as stan- 
dards, have probably no equals in soundness and scope. Hence they are 
usually the first books adopted by Eeadins Circles, and ai-e indispensable to 
the library of an intelligent teacher. These are: 

1. Essays on Educational Befoniui-s. By Robert Henry Quick. Cloth, 
16mo, pp. 330. Price $1.50. 

' This is altogether the best History of Education. " With the suggestion 
that study should be made iiitereslimj" writes Principal !Moi'gan, of the Rhode 
Island State Kormal School, " we most heartily agree. How this may be 
Cioiie, the attentive reader will be helped in learning by the study of this 
adiTHrable book." 

2. The First Three Years of Childlwod. By B. Perez. With an intro- 
duction by Prof. James Sully. Cloth, 12nio, pp. 204. Price $1.50. 

This is incomparably the best psychology for primary teachers, and 
forms the proper Bans for pedagogical knowledge. The .Journal of Pedacjor/y 
says (April, 18S9): " Some of the greatest questions relating to primary edu- 
cation can only be solved by an accurate observation and correct interpre- 
tation of the infant mind, and as the author of this volume combines the 
proper qualifications for the work with ample opportunity, his observations 
and deductions are entitled to the highest confidence." 

3. Lectures on the Science and Art of Education. By Joseph Payne. 
Cloth, ICmo, pp. 384. Price, $1.00. 

The student is now ready to take up the Science of Education, which is 
i^owhere else so brilliantly and effectively presented. The lectures are sin- 
gularly fascinating, and the full analysis and indexes in this edition make it 
easy to collate and compare all that the author has uttered upon any topic 
Suggested. 

L The Philosorphy of Education, or the Principles an d Practice of Teach inrj. 
By Thoji/ ' Tate. Cloth, lOmo, pp. 440. Price $1.50. 

This gives the application of the Science to the Art of Teaching, and is 
without a rival in its clear presentation and abundant illustrations. The 
author is not content with giving directions. He shows by specimens of 
class-work .iust what may be done and should be done. . 

5. Introductory Text-Book to School Education, Method and School Man- 
agemerd. By John Gill. Cloth, lOmo, pp. 270. Price $1.00. 

This supplements the work of all the rest by practical directions as to 
ScJiool Manar/e7nent. Of the five this has liad a sale equal to that of all the 
rest combined. The teacher's greatest difficulty, his surest discomfiture if 
he fails, is in the discipline and management of liis school. That this man- 
ual has proved of inestimable help is proved by the fact that the present 
English edition is the 44th thousand printed. 

C. W. BARDEF.N, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS FOR PROMOTION. 



W. H. MAXWELL, BROOKLYX, X. Y. 
(A paper read before the National Educational Associivtion, at St. Paul, Jlinn., July, 1890. i 

It is fortunate for me that this paper is to be read before a convention of 
professional teachei's. It is fortunate, first, because my mind has not yet 
reached conviction on many of the questions involved, and you as experts 
will ai)preciate the difficulties of one who is still in the stage of experiment- 
making. It is fortunate, in the second place, because it is impossible within 
the limits of time allowed, to discuss with anything like fullness of detail the 
numy important (piestions which the subject suggests. All I can hojie to do 
is to raise the leading points at issue, to state briefly some of the arguments 
pro and eon, and leave to you the task of filling in the details and illustra- 
tions. 

I did not choose this subject, nor did I .^^elect the title; and, to prevent mis- 
understanding, I shall begin by defining terms. What is promotion ? In a 
system of graded schools promotion means the moving of a pupil from a lower 
grade to a higher grade. The term implies that the pupil has accomi)lished 
with a reasonable degree of efficiency the work of the lower grade, and that 
he is ready to begin the more advanced work of the higher grade. Examina- 
tion, as the term will be used in this jniper, is any means that may be employed 
by a teacher, a princii)al, or a superintendent, to discover whether a pupil has 
completed with a sufficient degree of efficiency the work of the lower grade, 
and whether he is ready to l)egin the work of a higher grade. To examine 
means literally to "weigh carefully," hence to test, to try. When we examine 
a child, we simply test wliether he has accomplished certain Avork, and whether 
he is ready to proceed with certain other Avork. 

Examinations under some conditions are legitimate; under other conditions 
are illegitimate. Hoav shall the legitimacy be determined? 

Dr. White distinguishes betAveen examination a.s an element of teaching 
and examination as a test for promotion, and seems to regard the former as not 
only legitimate, but necessary, and the latter as not only unnecessary, but il- 
legitimate. I cannot admit Dr. White's distinction. All examinations are 
elements of teaching. Wliether they are made for the purpose of testing a 
pupil's knowledge, or of determining his fitness for promotion, they are equally 
elements of teaching. They are teaching him either something good or some- 
thing bad. They are training him in a right direction or in a wrong direc- 
tion. Everything done in a school-room is an element of teaching; and it is 
our business to see that each thing done is an element in teaching Avhat is 
good. 

Here, then, Ave have found a criterion by Avliich to determine the legitimacy 
or illegitimacy of any form of test or examination. Is it an element in teach- 



2 THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

ing what is good ? If it is, let us use it. If it is not, let us not touch the 
unclean thing. 

But in order to apply this criterion, we must classify examinations. They 
may be classified according to the immediate object for which they are con- 
ducted, as daily examinations, review examinations, and comprehensive or 
stated examinations. 

By daily examinations I mean the sharp, rapid cross-questioning to which 
every skillful teacher subjects his pupils. The questions may test the connec- 
tion between the lesson in hand and one that has gone before, or they may 
test knowledge of the subject under consideration, or they may be used to 
dispel illusions, or they may suggest and elicit a new train of thought that 
flows from the lesson like a brooklet from a spring ; but in all cases, they have 
quite as good a right to the title of examination as either the review or the 
stated examination. Socrates was the fii-st great examiner whose examination 
questions are still extant, and those who believe in examination have no need 
to be ashamed of the inventor of the system. 

Review examinations, generally written, are given j)rimarily for the pur- 
pose of testing whether the knowledge imparted is retained with sufficient ac- 
curacy and clearness. They are sometimes given at stated intervals, though 
the more progressive among teachers now adopt the plan of giving a review 
examination whenever the study of some natural division of a subject, as dec- 
imal fractions in arithmetic, or one of the grand divisions in geography, is 
completed. 

Comprehensive, or stated, examinations are intended or should be intended 
to test whether students have a comprehensive grasp, not of petty details, but 
of the general outlines of a subject, whether they know the relations of the 
various parts to one another and to the whole. 

These three difierent kinds of examination, the daily examination, the review 
examination, and the comprehensive examination, exhaust all possible kinds 
of examination. The inquiry is now pertinent as to how far and under what 
conditions they are elements in teaching what is good. 

But first, what is teaching ? Dr. White defines teaching as " the applying 
of means to the pupil's mind in such manner as to occasion those mental ac- 
tivities that result in knowledge, power, and skill." Teaching, according to 
this definition, in which as far as it goes I heartily concur, includes both in- 
struction and training — instruction being that part of teaching which results 
in knowledge, and training that part which results in jDower or skill. The 
question then resolves itself into this: Is examination one of the means that 
occasion those mental activities which result in knowledge, power, and skill ? 

The reply must be in the affirmative. Certainly it will be so with regard 
to the daily and review examinations ; and, rightly considered, it can hardly 
fail to be so also with regard to the comprehensive, or stated examination. 
The ground is exactly the same in all three cases. Knowledge is not knowl- 
edge when it has been merely taken in. It is not knowledge until it has 



EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS FOB PROMOTION. 3 

passed through the mind and come out a^ain in words or actions of our own.^ 
Until this is done we cannot be sure even that we [jossess knowledge. Every 
thorough-going student has been at some time or other, when confronted ^ith 
examination questions, amazed at his own ignorance of subjects with which he 
fondly imagined he was thoroughly familiar. There is probably no better test 
of a teacher's ability than his power to determine, during the giving of a lesson 
or after it has been given, whether it has been mastered l)v his i)iipils. And 
yet I have frequently seen teachers of great ability astonished at their pupils' 
ignorance of subjects which they, the teaehei'S, thought had been completely 
mastered. In all these ca.ses the examination test shows that the knowledge 
in question has not been assimilated, has not l)een converted into faculty. 
The very act of reproducing knowledge in tlic jjupil's own words or acts is 
one of the best means of converting it into faculty ; but it is not the only 
means. The i)rocess is not complete when isolated facts, nor even when 
divisions of a subject, have passed through the mind and been reproduced. 
All this is necessary, but it is not enough. It is but a means to an end, and 
the end is the comprehension of a subject as a whole, and the com])rehension 
of the relations of the various parts to one another and to the whole. This 
aim should be held steadily in view by every teacher, no matter how small a 
portion of a subject may fall to his lot ty teach in a particular grade. I can 
conceive it possible that where one teacher, as sometimes happens in a college 
or univei"sity, begins and ends the teaching of a single subject, the compre- 
hensive examinations might be abandoned without serious injury. But in a 
system of graded schools, in which each teacher teaches only a small fraction 
of a subject, in which the teachei-s differ so largely, as they inevitably must, 
in ability, in manner, and in method, there is absolutely no other way by 
which to test whether pupils have attained a comprehensive knowledge of a 
subject ; there is absolutely no other way by which to enforce due attention 
on the part o^both teaehei'S and pupils to this all-important part of their 
work. Nor is even this all. The process of learning is not complete until 
the pupil can apply his knowledge in some practical way. The learning of a 
princi})le or rule in arithmetic is useless, until the pupil can apply it to the 
solution of problems. The study of the facts of form is of comj^aratively 
little value, unless the scholar can give them concrete expression with his own 
hands. The memorizing of the rules and definitions of grammar is so much 
time almost wasted, unless the scholar can apply them in the criticism of his 
own language, both oral and written, and in the elucidation of difftcult and 
obscure passages in what he reads. These are elementary truths which I 
should have to apologize for stating were it not for their bearing upon this 
discussion. Examination consists not merely in reproducing knowledge im- 
parted or accpiired, but in making practical application of knowledge, in test- 
ing power and skill. And hence on this ground also — the ground of practical 
application as well as that of reproduction — examination, seeing that it is not 
only a test of application and reproduction, but an exercise in application 



4 THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

and a means of the development of power and skill, must be regarded as an 
element of teaching what is good. And if it is an element of teaching what 
is good, it has a right to its legitimate place and function in any and every 
system of education. In the words of Mr. Fitch, "Examining is a part of 
teaching, and is indispensable to it." Examination is not merely a test of 
knowledge, power, and skill: it is a means of acquiring knowledge, power, 
and skill. 

Examinations, however, when wisely used may be made to serve other pur- 
poses than those of exercise in reproducing knowledge and of testing and ac- 
quiring power and skill, ^hey may serve also as both a standard and a 
stimulus. ^ Particularly is this true of the comprehensive or stated examina- 
tion. Such an examination is the surest preventive of that loose and desultory 
teaching which is sure to demoralize the intellectual habits of the average 
student. The habit of mind we should aim to cultivate is that which in the 
affairs of life enables a man to see clearly the end to be accomplished, and to 
take with honesty and firmness of j)urpose the path that leads most directly 
to its accomplishment. In every branch of study the cultivation of this habit 
is a thing to be kept ever in view. Every time the teacher wanders, or allows 
his pupils to wander, from the straight j^ath that must be pursued to master a 
subject, he fosters the formation of habits of fickleness in purjjose and de- 
sultoriness in action, he dulls the power of steady intellectual vision. ISTow 
it is only teachers of the highest order, of whom in the nature of things there 
can be but few, who can, without adventitious pressure, curb this j^ropensity 
to wander ; and, as the comprehensive examination, when properly conducted 
and given , in its proper place, is the most powerful of all adventitious in- 
fluences, it follows that its use as a standard in a system of graded schools is 
indispensable. 

Even by teachers of the highest order, the influence of the comprehensive 
examination is not to be despised, especially when it is conducted by an ex- 
ternal authority. Even that rara avis, the born teacher, will work all the 
better if he is enabled, or compelled, to compare his own Avith another ideal, 
Mr. Fitch has put this phase of the argument so well that I feel constrained 
to adopt his language as my own : " The teacher knows well enough how 
nearly his ideal has been reached ; but he does not know, and cannot know, 
whether that ideal is the highest attainable, and how it compares with that 
which is attained by other teachers and under other conditions. There is an 
inevitable narrowness of vision produced by daily observation of the same 
little group of minds. Details are seen in more or less false perspective. The 
progress of to-day is compared with that of yesterday, and the larger view of 
the progress that ought to be made, and which might be made, from year to 
year, becomes more and more difficult in proportion to the very zeal and ear- 
nestness with which the teacher watches the every-day work of his scholars. 
He cannot jjut himself into the position of complete detachment. He wants 
to see his work as" others see it. He wants an honest comparison to be made 



EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS FOB PBOMOTION. 5 

of his own performances with those of othei-s, and to be assured that what he 
is doing does not fall short of the standard which is aonorally reached by good 
teachei-s in similar conditions; and even if the teacher did not himself feel 
this distrust, the public would feel it for him. Ixird Sherbrooke puts the case 
with an irreverent but characteristic i)lainness when he says he does not like 
to leave traders to 'brand their own herrings.'" 

Let no one take offense at this last statement. AVe are all public servants, 
and the public whom we serve have a right to ai)ply tests to our work and 
estimate its value. No branch of the public service can be administered just 
as a i)rivate business is managed. Why ? Because the ])ro])rietor of a private 
business has a natural and legal right to manage his affairs in the way that 
suits him best. But in the public service the very first condition of success 
is the sym])athy and support of the ])ul)lic. AVitliout such synipatliy and su])- 
port those who are immediately concerned in administering the i)ublic schcjols 
cannot hope to accomplish their perfect work. "Without such sympathy and 
support the conscientious teacher is sure to be overwhebned by tlie malign and 
al)horrent forces that are ever seeking to use the public schools for their own 
selfish and wicked purposes. Nothing that can create and preserve ])ul)li(.' 
sympathy and sup{)ort for the public schools can be without its effect for good. 
The comprehensive examination, when conducted by one who is not innne- 
diately engaged in the work of class-teaching, and who is responsible to the 
State alone, is the best means of informing the public how far the work of the 
teacher is honest and successful. 

All examinations, then, but particularly tlie comprehensive examinations, 
may be regarded as establishing a standard at which both teacher and jiupil 
may aim, and a standard by which the public may judge of both teacher's 
and pupil's work. 

But again, all examination, and particularly the comprehensive examina- 
tion, is useful not only as an- exercise, as a test, and as a standard, but also as | 
a stimulus. Competition has been one of the mightiest forces in the evolution 
of civilization. In one form or another it is competition, under God's laws, 
that has raised man fi-om being a little higher than the brutes to being a little 
lower than the angels. Many forms of com])etition that once played a promi- 
nent ])art in determining what types were fittest to survive, have now disaj)-_ 
peared, or are disappearing from among civilized men. Among them, let us 
hoj)e, is that form which leads a student to work only that he may surj)ass 
others — a form which leads to envy, malice, dishonesty, and distrust. But 
there is still room, and, so long as men are imperfect, there will always be 
room, for that form of competition which leads each to striyej^not to suii)ass 
others, but to equal the best and highest. Equa^ty in excellence, not suj)e- 
riority, is a healthy motive for endeavor, and if examinations when properly 
conducted can be made to sen^ens a stinudus to this motive, their existence 
is amply justified. 

It may be objected that knowledge and cultui-e should be pursued for their 



6 THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

own sakes. This is very true. They should be so pursued. But then they 
are not. With the great majority of men and women the love of scientific 
knowledge and of culture is an acquired taste. Those who proclaim most 
loudly the doctrine of the self-sufficiency of education, both as an object and 
as a stimulus, forget that if their contentions were founded upon fact, the ar- 
gument for the maintenance of a State system of education would be robbed 
of its validity. Why does the State maintain public schools? Because the 
desire for education, a thing necessary to the very existence of free govern- 
ment, does not exist originally in the majority of minds. K it did exist, uni- 
versally, as, for instance, the craving for food exists, there would be no more 
excuse for the State providing education for the masses than there is now for 
the State providing food for the masses. Our whole public-school system is 
predicated on the assumption that the desire for education is not universally 
present. The necessity for the stimulus afforded by examination is demon- 
strated by the very same reasoning. The desire for training is not indi- 
genous. It is an exotic as well as a plant of slow growth. The necessary 
mental habit is formed onl}'-, except in rare exceptions, under the influence of 
various stimuli, one of the most potential of which is examination. 

Let us now consider some of the objections of those who are opposed to ex- 
amination. Parenthetically, it may be said that these objections are urged 
chiefly, if not exclusively, against the comprehensive, or stated examination. 
It would be well, however, for the objectors to remember that their objections 
apply with equal force to the review examinations, though the jDrojoriety of 
the latter is doubted by none. 

The first objection is that the highest kind of teaching defies all test. As 
President Adams puts it:( "Above all things it [education] means the awak- 
ening and developing of certain desires that will go well with the pupil 'as a 
kind of perpetual inspiration through life," /To test this higher kind of teach- 
ing, examination utterly fails. But, though it fails at this 'point, is that any 
reason why it should not be used for the purpose for which it is preeminently 
fitted, namely, to test the acquisition of knowledge and the development of 
power and skill? We might as well say that we should not use cross-exam- 
ination in a court of law to test the veracity of a witness because it may not 
reveal whether a man is a poet or a philosopher. 

Again, examinations, it is said, lead to cramming with all its attendant evils. 
The case against examinations from this point of view, has never been more 
strongly stated than by President Adams : "A bird put into a dark room and 
stuffed with food by main force, will at once develop enormous digestive organs, 
and take on fat at an unnaturally rapid rate. But it can hardly be claimed 
that this is a process of healthy growth. It is abnormal, and it tends to 
weakness rather than strength ; but it is entirely analogous to the processes of 
cramming for examinations that sometimes prevail. The one case is a gorging 
of the mind for the purpose of getting it into a certain condition for the emer- 
gency of an examination, much as the other is a gorging of the body in order 



EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS FOB PEOMOTION. 7 

to bring it into a certain condition, let ns say fur a Christ inavS or a Thanksgiving 
dinner." 

The apjjarently tremendous force of this striking analogy is broken to tlie 
discerning eye by the presence of the word sometimes. " The processes of 
cramming for examinations that sometimes prevail " ! Not univei-sally, not even 
frequently, but only .•<ometimes. Were we to admit President Adams's major 
premise, namely, that all educational processes which are sometimes injurious 
should be abolished, we could not avoid the conclusion that examinations 
ought to be abolished. But we cannot admit that everything that is some- 
times injurious, or injurious only to some pupils, ought to be abolished. The 
processes that are adapted to the welfare of the greatest number are the ]jro- 
cesses that must be employed in the class-room. The fact that a [)rocess is 
sometimes injurious is an argument only in favor of excepting from the opera- 
tion those to whom it is found to be injurious. 

Then, again, the word cram is ambiguous. If it means simply learning 
words by rote, in the hope of passing an examination, the effect is undouI)t- 
edly evil. But if it means the rajjid review before an examination of a sub- 
ject already studied, if it means even the rapid study of a subject, entirely 
new, provided the study is done intelligently, the i)ractice is not olijectionable. 
Indeed, the power of getting ready (piickly, of sunnnoning all one's resources, 
at a time not of one's choosing, is aai admirable and a necessary preparation 
for life. The lawyer is obliged to "cram" for the trial of a case; the clergy- 
man, for his sermon; even the college professor, for his lecture! Tliat there is 
cramming, in the woi"st sense of the word, in many schools and classes, no one 
doubts; but that all immediate preparation for examination deserves to be 
characterized by that name, is absurd. The abuse of a thing otherwise good, 
can never be an argument against its proper use. 

There is one kind of preparation for an examination which has excited the 
utmost vigor of denunciation on the part of the critics ; namely, the use of 
former examination questions in class-work. But here again the question 
seems to be between abuse and proper use. If nothing of a subject is taught 
but the answers to a few cut-and-dried questions, in the hope that they may 
be repeated at the next examination, we have perhaps the worst of all cases 
of cramming. But if, after a subject ha.s been well taught, a review is con- 
ducted by means of questions, whetlier new or old, there can be no possible 
objection to the process. AVhether it is abused or not depends on whether 
answering the questions precedes or follows the teaching of the subject. 
Again, the abuse of a method is no argument against its proper use. 

Another serious objection urged against examinations is, that they produce 
a continual mental strain, which so affects the nervous system as to seriously 
injure both mind and body. In many cases excellent ground has been given 
fi)r bringing this charge. But this is where examinations are too frequent 
and too severe, and where children of a highly-wrought nervous temperament 



8 THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

are not excepted from their operation. Again, the abuse of a thing may not 
he used as an argument against its proper use. 

Another argument against examinations, and particularly against the stated 
examination, is that they rob teachers of originality and independence, and 
keep them in grooves or ruts. This is one of the heaviest indictments against 
examinations, and it might as well be admitted at once that, in innumerable 

instances, it has been proven triie, It is, however, only another instance of 

the abuse, not the proper use, of examinations. In the first place, it does not 
apply at all to the daily examination, except where a system of daily mark- 
ing is used. In the second place, it cannot apply to the reviev^' examination, 
where the questions are prepared by the class-teacher. And, in the third place, 
it will not hold against the stated examination, where the questions for such 
an examination are prepared on philosophic principles. And, lastly, as I 
have already explained, under the head of standard, the poorest and the best of 
teachers alike need a standard toward which to work. Even Dr. AVhite ad- 
mits that there is nothing like a good, square written examination to rouse 
some schools and teachers from the Rip ^"an Winkle sleep into which they 
are prone to fall. And, provided it is pi'operly conducted, there is nothing- 
like a good, square written examination to keep them from falling into such 
a sleep again. 

J But examination is an edged tool. It must be carefully handled. Its un- 
f skillful employment has introduced untold evil into school-work. It has 
I fostered cramming of the worst kind; it has injured the nervous systems of 
I thousands of children ; it has robbed teachers of their individuality, and it 
\ has produced teaching that is formal, mechanical, and lifeless. 
^ The indictment is a heavy one. And yet I am firmly convinced that all 
three kinds of examination — the daily examination, the review examination, 
and the stated examination — are necessary, not only as elements of teaching, 
but also to determine promotions. Children, if they are to learn in any 
proper sense of the term, must apprehend details and principles, they must 
apply their knowledge practically, and they must, before they get through 
with a subject, comprehend it as a whole with the relations of all its parts. 
In a system of graded schools all three ways of learning must be tested or ex- 
amined in order to determine promotion. But how can this be done without 
involving the evils which I have enumerated ? Apprehension and applica- 
tion are to be tested by the daily examination and the review. And yet I 
have known many instances where the worst evils of examination — the press- 
ure on the nervous system, cramming, and mechanical teaching — have been 
generated and fostered by both the daily recitation and the weekly or monthly 
review. In the case of the daily examination the fact was due almost entirely 
to the plan of marking the answer to each question. In the first place, the 
plan is preeminently unjust. In a large class each pupil may be given but a 
single question. He may get the only question the answer to which he knows 



EXAMIXATIOXS AS TESTS FOB PBOMOTION. 9 

and so receive a perfect mark when he really deserves zero. Another niay 
get the only question the answer to which he does not know, and so receive a 
mark of failure where he really deserved a very high mark. In the second 
place, marking and teaching at the same time are incompatible. If a teacher 
gives his whole miud to the work in hand, he has no thought to spare for 
marking. If he subtracts from the sum-total of his mental energy the amount 
needed to form, during the lesson, a judgment on tlie work of each individual 
pupil, the value of his teaching is by so nuich diminished. If lie takes time 
after the lesson, time is wasted. Thus the plan results both in dissipation of 
energy and wa.ste of time. Thirdly, such a system of marking tends to fos- 
ter that woi-st of all methods of teaching, according to wliich the teacher 
stands book in hand before his class, and heai-s recited the lessons that were 
learned overnight. Such a system of marking is the fit concomitant of such 
a system of teaching. 

Again, all the worst evils that follow in the train of examinations may be 
found in connection with the review examination; particularly when the 
j»rincipal or superintendent insists upon nuiking all the questions. These 
evils may, however, be obviated by having the (piestions prepared jointly by 
the class-teacher and the supervisor; by making them consist in due propor- 
tion of questions testing knowledge and of applications of such knowledge, 
and by dispensing altogether with numerical marking. ^I^gJt_tbej3upils under- 
stand that there are to be no per cents, nuide out ; that there is to be no strife 
as to which stands highest ; that the sole object of the examination is to test 
the fidelity and industry with which they have done their work, 'to exercise 
them in reproducing in their own words or acts what they have learned, and 
to discover their power and skill. AMieiuthis is done, all temptation to 
cramming and dishonesty will disappear, children will look upon examination 
simply as a means of discovering their own weakness and strength, while 
the nervous strain will be largely diminished. 

But how, if there are to lie no daily marks and no jjcr cents, for the reviews, 
are the pupils' standing's to be determined ? Some way must be devised to 
.lecide who are fit for promotion and \\\\o are not fit. The most simple and 
rational method yet devised is the monthly estimate by the teacher. As Dr. 
\\'hite has well said, the teacher who cannot at the end of a month form a 
reasonably coiTect estimate as to whether a child deserves or does not deserve 
to be promoted, is to be pitied if not retired. The objections urged against 
this system of marking are two: 1. In large systems there are always to be 
found some inefficient teachers whose estimates cannot be dejiended ui)oii ; 
and, 2d, even among capable teachers there is a great lack of uniformity 
of standard, some marking much higher than othere for the same or similar 
attainments. As to the utterly inefficient teachei-s, their number is ])robably 
very much over-estimated; and in all such cases the principal or other sui)ei-- 
visor must stand ready to correct the defects of the work. The second diffi- 
culty is not of so great moment, because what we want to determine is only 



10 THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

this : who have and who have not done well enough to merit promotion, sup- 
posing promotion to take place the next day. Beginning at the lowest, those 
who do not merit promotion, it is not difficult to divide the remainder into, 
say, three classes — excellent, very good, and good. Teachers who have tried 
the plan find that it works well, and doubtless with increased experience 
better plans of arriving at estimates will be devised. 

Besides preventing the evils that too frequently flow from examinations, the 
estimate plan has this other transcendent merit : it compels the teacher to 
think of each pupil, to study his peculiarities, and to seek the training neces- 
sary to correct his faults or develop his faculties. The great fault of the public- 
school system is that it educates en vtasse, by wholesale, and does not attend 
sufficiently to individual peculiarities. The estimate system wherever it has 
been given a fair trial is already beginning to act as a counter-irritant. 

This estimate, by the teacher, of the pupil's apprehension and application, 
or in other words, of his assimilation of knowledge on the one hand and theV 
development of power and skill on the other hand, is the only thing to be 
considered in making promotions from grade to grade. The setting-up of the 
numerical results of a principal's or sujDerintendent's examination on the work 
of the term as of superior value to this estimate, is an absurdity which is fast 
disappearing from educational administration. Such examinations lead di- 
rectly to all of the evils I have endeavored to point out, and have probably 
done more, particularly where given to very young childi'en, to produce nerv- 
ous disorders, than all other causes combined. 

Where, then, is the place for the comprehensive, or stated, examination ? 
From the very nature of the exercise it can have but one place, namely, 
wherever the study of a subject is completed. If it is completed at the end 
of the grammar-school course, that is its place. If it is comj)leted at the end 
of the seventh year, that is its place ; and so on. And all of these examina- 
tions should count for graduation and entrance to the high school. Such an 
examination should be the standard toward which all, both teachers and pu- 
pils, should work. Such an examination should be an important test of the 
quality of the work not merely of the graduating teacher but of the teachers 
of the lower grades. Such an examination should test not only the knowledge, 
but the power and the skill, of the pupils. Such an examination, if wisely 
and honestly conducted, is the standard by which the public will judge of the 
work of the schools. 

Educators will work out the many problems involved in this momentous 
question in different ways according to their environment. It is the last sub- 
ject on which anyone should attempt to dogmatize, because there is no other 
with regard to which we have made so many mistakes. What is needed more 
than anything else is bold experiment, and careful observation of results. Our 
attitude should always be that of Chaucer's Oxford Clerk : " Gladly would he 
learn, and gladly teach." 

Our aim should be to accomplish results with the smallest possible expend- 



EXAMINATIOXS AS TESTS FOB PBOMOTION. 11 

iture of nervous force on the ])art of both teacher and pupilj; to give the 
teacher all possible freedom within certain limits; to judge of intellectual work 
by intellectual, not mechanical, tests; and to train our children to move for- 
ward, not like an army at the word of command, every soldier drilled to the 
exact similitude of every other soldier, not like the cataract, beautiful, but tu- 
multuous and destructive, but like a flock of swallows, rejoicing in their liberty 
and ever flying to the promised land. 



-THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.- 



School Issues of the Day. 

1. Benomi national Schools. Discussion at the National Association, 1889, 
by Cardinal Gibbons, Bishop Keane, Edwin D. Meade, and John Jay. Pp. 
71. 25 cts. 

S. The Educational Valve of Manual Training, by Wm. T. Harris, LL.D., 
Commissioner of Education. Pp. 14. 15 cts. 

3. Art Education tlie True Industrial Education, by Wm. T. Harris, LL.D. 
Pp. 9. 15 cts. 

L Methods oflnttvction and Courses of Study in Normal Schools, by Thom- 
as J. Gray, LL.D., President Colorado State Normal School. Pp. 19. 15 cts. 

5. Pedagogical Chairs in Colleges and Universities, by B. A. Hinsdale, 
Ph.D., Professor of Pedagogy in the University of Michigan. Pp. 11. 15 cts. 

6. Opportunities of the Rural Poor for Higher Education,'by'PTot. J ambb 
H. Canfield, University of Kansas. Pp. 34. 15 cts. 

7. Honorary Degrees as Conferred in American Colleges, by Prof. Chas. 
Foster Smith, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University. Pp. 9. 15 cts. 

S. The Present Status of tlie Township System, by C. W. Bardeen, Editor 
of the School Bulletin. With an appendix containing tlie Compulsory Law as 
introduced into the New York Legislature of 1890. Pp. 60. 40 cts. 

9. Effect of the College- Preparatory High School upon Attendance and 
Scholarsldp in the Lower Grades, by C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 5. 15 cts. 

10. " Organization " and " System " vs. Onginality and Individuality in 
the Teacher, by Henry Sarin, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
Iowa, with opening of the discussion by C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 9. 15 cts. 

11. Examinations as Tests for Promotion, by Wm. H. Maxwell, Ph.D., 
Superintendent of Schools, Brooklyn, N. Y. Pp. 11. 15 cts. 

IS. Compulsory Laws and their Enforcement, by Oscar R. Cooper, State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Texas. Pp. 6. 15 cts. 

13. University and School Extension, by Wm. T. Harris, LL.D. Pp. 12. 
15 cts. 

14. The General Government and Public Education throughout the Country .^ 
by Wm. T. Harris, LL.D. Pp. 8. 15 cts. 

15. Report on Pedagogical and Psychological Observation, by Wm. T. Hab- 
Kis, LL.D. Pp. 6. 15 cts. 

|^F° The 15 Numbers will be sent to any address on receipt of $1.50, or 
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Nos. 1 to 7 were read at the meeting of the National Association in 1889, 
and Nos. 9 to 15 at the meeting of the National Association in 1890. No. 8 
was read at the meeting of School Commissioners and Superintendents in 
New York City, 1888. 

C. W. BARDEEN, PublisLer, Syracuse, N. Y. 



THE SCnoOL BULLETIN- PUBLICATIONS. 

Froebel and the Kindergarten. 

1. Axikib'iography o.f FHedrich Froebel. Translated and annotated by 
Emily .AIicualus and II. Kkatly Moohe. Cloth, A2mo, pp. 183. $1.50. 

Useful and Interestiiiff * ♦ * atnonff the best that could be added to 
the teacher's library.— ? /<« Chautauguan, Oct., 1889. 

There is no better .ntroduction to the Kindergarten.— IFiwcon^iw Journal 
of EUucatioii, Sept., 1889 

It is a book which can be trusted to make its own way.— 7%« Independent, 
Oct. 10, 1889. 

These two books fFroebel and Pestalozzi] recently from the press of the 
enterprisinfT and discrimin.-itinf; lioaso of C. W. Banlceii, are tiie 'ast and not 
the least important contribution to American pedafroflieal litciaturc. The 
professional library is incomplete witliout them.— 6'rt«rtc/a ScJiool Journal, 
Sept., 1889. 

S. Child and CMld-Xatiire. Contributions to the understandinff of 
Froebel's Educational Tiieories. By tlie Baroness Marenholtz-Buelow. 
Cloth, 12mo, pp. 207. 81.."jO. 

It is a fit companion to the Autobiography and the two arc published in 
the same style -a capital idea— and a royal pair of volumes they make. — 
Educational Courant, Oct., 1889. 

Its design is to illustrate tlie theory and philosophy of Froebel's system. 
It docs tliis so clearly and pleasingly as to give no excuse for criticism. * * 
* * The volume is one i)rofitable for every mother, as well as every teacher 
of chilAven.—^V fiicaffO Intcrocean; Sept. 14, 1889. 

3. The Firi<t Three Years of Childhood. By B. Perkz, with an Intro- 
duction by Prof. Sully. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 294. $1.50. 

The eminent English psycliologist. Prof. Sully says tliat Perez combines 
in a very happy and uimsual way tlie difTerent qualilications of a good ob- 
server of Cliildren, and that lie has given us tlie fullest account yet pub- 
lislied of the facts of child-life. « * * Tlie typography of the work is 
excellent, and in external appearance the book is by far the handsomest 
American edition issued.— ./o«r/irt/o/' redagogy, April, 1880. 

It. The Kindenjarien Syxlcin. Principles of Froebel's System, and their 
bearing on the Education of Women. Also Remarks on the Higher Educa- 
tion of Women. By E.mily Shiureff. Clotli, 12mo, pp. 200. $1.00. 

5. Essays on the Kindergarlen. Being a selection of Lectures read be- 
fore the London Froebel Society. Clotli, 12mo, pp. 175. $1.00. 

6. Primary Helps. A Kindergarten :Manual for Public School Teachers, 
8vo, boards, pp. 58, with 15 full page plates. 75 cts. 

7. The New Education. Edited by W. N. Hailsianx. Vols. V and VI, 
the last published. Each Svc. clotli, pp. 146. $2.00. 

8. The New Education. By Prof. J. 31. D. MEmELTOHN. Paper, 16mo, 
pp. 33. 15 cts. 

C. VV. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



J^29 463 254 2 



-TEE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.- 



Life and Works of Pestalozzi. 

1. Pestalozzi ; Ms Aim and Work. By Baeon Db Guisrps. Translated 
by Margaret Cathbertson Crombie. Cloth, 13mo, pp. 336, $1.50. 

Demands u deep and earnest \)ev\\&-ix\.— Teachers' Aid, London, Feb. 2, 
1889. 

Amonj? the best books that could be added to the teacher's library.— 
Qhaviaiigi'aii, Oct., 1889. 

It is sufficient to say that the book affords the fullest material for a 
knowledge of the life of the great educational reformer.— i-i('e?'ary World, 
June 2-3, 1889. 

Should be carefully studied by every teacher.— The Pacific Educational 
■lourrial, Auj;'., 1889. 

The most satisfactory biography of Pestalozzi accessible to English 
vea.(ievs.— Wisconsin Joiirncdof Edvca/ion. Aug., 1889. 

There is not a teacher anywhere who cannot learn something by the 
perusal of this yvorli.—Science, June 7, 1889. 

The work is a timely reminder how far we hav-e sti'ayed in following the 
deity of " examination," -which should have been kept in its place as the 
liandmaid of education.— 2%^ Schoolmaster, London, Feb. 16, 1889. 

S. Pestalozzi and Pestalozzianism. By K. H. Quick. Paper, 16mo, pp. 
40, 1.5 cts. 

TViis is a reprint from Quick's Educational Reformers, and contains the 
bast brief abstract that has ever been written. 

,;. The PeMalozzian Seines of Anthmeiics. Teachers' Manual and First- 
Year Text-Bo()k for pui:>ils in the first gt^d.de. Based upon Pestalozzi's 
metliod of teaching Elementary Number. By James II. IIoose. Boards, 
Kimo, ii editions. Pup'd'x Edition, pp. 1.56, 35 cts. Teacher's Edition, contain- 
ing the former, with additional matter, pp. 217, .50 cts. 

This is a practical exposition of the Pestalozzian Method, and has met 
with great smccess nut only in the Cortland Normal School, where it was 
first developed, but in nuniy other leading schools, as at Gloversville, Baby- 
Jon, etc. It is diaractiiciilly opposed to the Grube Method, and good teach- 
ers should be familiar with both, that they may choose intelligently between 
them. 

/,. Lessons in Nuniber, as given in a Pestalozzian School, CJwam, Surrey. 
The Master's Manual. By C. Keiner. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 224. $1.50. 

5. Lessons in Eo9-m, or, an Introduction to Geometry as given in a Pesta- 
lozzian School, Vheam, Surrey. L'y C. Reiner. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 215. $1.50. 

Both 4 and .5 in one volume, $2.00. 

These works were prepared in 1833 under the supervision of Dr. C. Mayo 
in the first English Pestalozzian school, and have particular value as lepre- 
senting directly the educational methods of the great reformer. 

C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y, 



